Bael (Aegle marmelos L.), considered to be a pack- house of nutrients and medicine, is one of the most neglected and underutilized fruit crops. In spite of possessing a good amount of nutritional and medicinal properties for mankind, little attention has been paid to its cultivation, research and development. Due to its Indian origin, a wide genetic base is available throughout the country, and this needs to be conserved and explored. As bael is a cross-pollinated crop propagated by seed, a wide variability in exists its population. Vegetative propagation ensures multiplication of selected, elite clones for commercial cultivation and conservation in situ / ex situ. A number of workers have suggested that budding was the best method, although the time of propagation varied from place to place (Kumar et al, 1995; Tripathi and Kumar, 2004). At present, softwood method of wedge-grafting is very popular in many fruit crops like jamun (Madalageri et al, 1991), sapota (Pampanna and Sulikeri, 2000) and custard apple (Ghosh et al, 2004). Little information is available on bael. Bael is mainly grown in marginal lands, and in situ, cultivation of plants is useful for raising better plant stands with early bearing compared to nursery-raised planting material. Unfortunately meagre information is available on optimum time required for in-situ propagation of bael. Red laterite soil zone of West Bengal that covers five districts has a good number of elite bael genotypes, but no information on their propagation is available. To standardize Short communication J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 7(2):214-216, 2012 Studies on propagation of bael (Aegle marmelos L.) under Jhargram conditions S.N. Ghosh, S. Roy1 and B. Bera1 Department of Fruits and Orchard Management Faculty of Horticulture Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur – 741 252, India E-mail: profsnghosh@yahoo.co.in ABSTRACT To work out the optimum time and method for commercial multiplication of bael (Aegle marmelos L.), an investigation was carried out in 2007 and 2008 at a private nursery in Jhargram of Paschim Midnapur, West Bengal. Results revealed that grafting in March should be done under propagation-shed condition. During shortage of scion material, chip budding can be practiced from 20th to 30th March, under partial shade. For raising the orchard in-situ, chip budding should be done at the onset of monsoon (10th to 25th June) on two-year old seedlings, which should have been pruned the previous October. Key words: Bael, budding, grafting, nursery, in situ, season propagation methods and time of operation suitable for nursery and field planting in bael, an investigation was carried out under Jhargram conditions. The study was undertaken in a nursery at Jhargram, Paschim Midnapore, in the years 2007 and 2008. Soil in the area of study was laterite and the climate dry sub-tropical. Meteorological data for this period is presented in Table 1. Seedlings were raised from seeds of fruits collected from a single, elite plant from a nearby village. These were raised in perforated, black polythene bags (25cm x 15cm) under the open condition. For budding and grafting, 50 seedlings each were used and replicated thrice in Randomized Block Design. In the nursery, grafting operation was carried out under a propagation shed where a white, transparent fiber sheet was used as a cover. Budding was carried out under a thatch shed for the period 1st March to 30th April due to high day temperatures while, during 10th June to 10th September, this was done under the propagation shed (as in grafting). Success rate of propagation and data on plant growth were recorded two months after grafting and budding. To workout the best time for in situ propagation, chip budding was carried out on two year old seedlings grown under open field condition at a spacing of 30cm x 60cm. For budding, 16-month old seedlings headed back during the previous October were used and one healthy shoot per seedling retained. Chip-budding was done in the following 1MPS Farm, Dighisole, Jhargram, Paschim Midnapore, West Bengal, India 215 year from 10th June to 10th September. Fifty seedlings grown in situ were chip-budded with scions of a selected, elite plant and replicated thrice in Randomized Block Design. Data on budding success and seedling growth were recorded two months after the operation. Obtaining maximum success with better growth, information on the right method and exact time of propagation in polybags grown seedling is paramount for a successful nursery business. Results from two years of investigation revealed that grafting gave higher success compared to budding, irrespective of the time of operation, except 25th July (Table 2). March (1st March to 30th March) was the best month, both for budding and grafting, as the highest success of 70 to 90% was recorded in budding and 85 to 95% in grafting. This could be due to better physiological condition of both the scion and the stock. It is known that plants start a new growth flush after a long period of dormancy, in the month of March, under the present condition. This may have resulted in good sap flow and cambial activity. This would also give an added advantage to the nurseryman as good sale of planting material can be expected in the ensuing monsoon season. Operations carried out during monsoon (10th June to 10th September) showed that 25th June was better for grafting (70% success), while 25th July was good for budding (50% success). It has been reported that mid- May to mid-June is the best period for patch-budding under Faizabad conditions (Kumar et al, 1994), while mid-August under Banaras conditions (Kumar et al, 1995) and the last week of July under Hisar conditions (Tripathi and Kumar, 2004) are best. Success in budding and grafting fell drastically after 10th August, which may be due to low cambial activity in the Propagation of bael (Aegle marmelos L.) Table 2. Effect of season on success of budding and grafting in bael two months after the operation (average of two years) Time of operation In the nursery In the field (In situ) Chip budding Grafting Chip budding Success Shoot Number Success Shoot Number Success Shoot Number (%) length (cm) of leaves (%) length (cm) of leaves (%) length (cm) of leaves 1st March 70 (56.79) 36 11 95 (77.08) 27 10 Not followed - - 10th March 80 (63.43) 29 9 85 (67.21) 22 8 -do- - - 20th March 80 (63.43) 39 14 85 (67.21) 28 10 -do- - - 30th March 90 (71.57) 40 15 95 (77.08) 32 12 -do- - - 10th April 70 (56.79) 22 9 80 (63.43) 20 8 -do- - - 20th April 0 (0.00) - - 10 (18.43) 10 6 -do- - - 30th April 0 (0.00) - - 5 (12.92) 12 8 -do- - - 10th June 30 (33.21) 20 26 50 (45.00) 22 14 44.0 (41.55) 40 46 25th June 35 (36.27) 22 25 70 (56.79) 17 10 64.0 (53.13) 36 32 10th July 8 (16.43) 35 18 40 (39.23) 14 9 16.0 (23.58) 48 25 25th July 50 (45.00) 45 20 35 (36.27) 15 9 0 (0.00) - - 10th August 22 (27.97) 13 10 30 (33.21) 10 6 20.0 (26.57) 23 8 25th August 6 (14.18) 10 8 0 (0.00) - - 8.0 (16.43) 29 19 10th September 0 (0.00) - - 0 (0.00) - - 0.0 (0.00) - - C. D. (p=0.05) (7.12) 8.1 3.2 (6.34) 5.5 1.5 (5.21) 4.5 2.8 Figures in parentheses indicate angular transformed values Table 1. Mean meteorological data of 2007-2008 recorded for the period under investigation Month Mean Temperature (0C) Mean Humidity (%) Mean rainfall Mean number Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum (mm) of rainy days January 24.2 12.1 84.6 40.6 0 0 February 28.6 14.4 88.8 35.9 1.4 1 March 34.2 20.6 89.4 41.4 30.0 4 April 36.7 22.7 76.6 52.4 48.8 6 M a y 37.2 24.8 79.2 48.4 35.5 6 June 38.4 25.7 90.2 63.8 122.0 12 July 35.3 23.4 91.7 72.6 321.0 22 August 36.2 22.7 92.6 78.4 340.0 23 September 36.4 23.6 87.5 78.6 221.0 21 October 29.4 22.5 81.2 59.8 150.0 12 November 28.2 18.2 75.3 50.4 29.0 3 December 24.3 12.3 72.2 44.4 20.5 2 J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 7(2):214-216, 2012 216 stock and scion. In the present study too, physiological condition of the stock and scion may have been very important for getting higher budding and grafting success. Highest success was achieved in the month of March when the stock and scion plants were in an active phase of growth and climatic conditions were ideal (Table 1). Regarding the growth of successful plants, it was observed that plants raised through budding had better growth (shoot length and leaf number) compared to grafting, irrespective of the time of operation. Maximum shoot length (45 cm) was attained when budding was made on 25th July, followed by 30th March (40 cm). Leaf number was highest (26) in plants budded on 10th June. In grafting, the longest shoot was recorded in plants grafted on 30th March (32 cm), followed by 20th March (28cm). Highest leaf production here was observed in plants grafted on 10th June (14), closely followed by those grafted on 30th March. Bael is found to grow in degraded soils like laterite with poor water-holding capacity and that receive low precipitation from November to May. In such a situation, field-raising of an orchard, not only results in a better plant stand compared to polybag-raised plants, but also these plants require less water and care during the initial years (due to a good root system). Results from two years of investigation showed (Table 2) highest budding success (64%) in rootstock plants that were chip-budded on 25th June, followed by those on 10th June (44%). Success percentage fell drastically after 25th June probably due to frequent rain. This may have affected the bud union and cambial activity in both stock and scion, reported to be greatly correlated with prevailing atmospheric conditions (Kumar et al, 1995). Growth of successful plants was found to be satisfactory as shoot length was 36 to 40cm and leaf number 32 to 46 in June-budded field-grown plants. REFERENCES Ghosh, S.N., Manna, S. and Mathew, B. 2004. Effect of season on success of grafting in custard apple under semi-arid condition of West Bengal. The Hort. J., 17:89-91 Kumar, D., Pathak, R.K. and Ali, W. 1994. Studies on effect of duration and methods of budding in bael. Ind. J. Hort., 51:150-153 Kumar, D., Singh, S.P. and Rajput, C.B.S. 1995. Influence of environmental factors and methods of budding in bael. Ind. J. Hort., 52:170-173 Madalageri, M.B., Patil, V.S. and Nalawadi, U.G. 1991. Propagation of jamun (Syzygium cumini) by softwood wedge grafting. Myforest, 27:176-178 Pampanna, Y. and Sulikeri, G.S. 2000. Effect of season on the success and growth of softwood grafts in sapota on invigorated rayan rootstock. Karnataka J. Agril. Sci., 13:779-782 Tripathi, A., and Kumar, R. 2004. Studies on the effect of method and time of budding in bael. Haryana J. Hortl. Sci., 33:195-98 (MS Received 10 May 2012, Revised 17 August 2012) Ghosh et al J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 7(2):214-216, 2012